Winterhawks 6, Spokane 1: Portland wins preseason opener

Nic Petan had a hat trick as the Portland Winterhawks opened the 2013-14 preseason with a 6-1 win over the Spokane Friday in a game played in Everett, WA.

The Hawks jumped out to an early 2-0 first period lead on goals by Nic Petan and Taylor Leier under two minutes apart, the latter on a power play. Later in the first, Chase De Leo struck for Portland’s second power play goal of the frame to make it a 3-0 advantage, which they took into the second period.

Portland added to the lead when Petan scored just 1:39 into the second to make it a 4-0 game. It remained that way through most of the period until Oliver Bjorkstrand scored at the 19:14 mark to make it 5-0 going into the third.

Spokane got on the board 2:07 into the third when Matt Sozanski scored to cut the deficit to 5-1. But the Hawks got that one back when Petan scored a power play goal at the 11:17 mark to wrap up the hat trick and extend the lead to 6-1, which stood as the final.

Adin Hill played between the pipes for the Hawks and finished with 32 saves on 33 shots. Spokane split the goaltending duties between Trevor Martin, who allowed four goals on 23 shots, while Tyson Verhelst allowed two goals on 23 Portland shots.

The Hawks’ special teams were outstanding in the preseason opener, going 3-5 on the power play and a perfect 4-4 on the penalty kill.

The Hawks continue the preseason with an 11:30 a.m. matinee tomorrow against the Tri-City Americans, also in Everett.